


The only one

by Satsuki_Miya



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Asano is awkward, Everyday Stuff, F/M, Fem!Karma, Fluff, Hate, Help, Humour, It WAS supposed to be a one shot, It's after the actual series, Karma is savage, Love, Straight pair lol, They are in class A, first chap is kinda weird but pls give it a chance, first chapter is kinda OOC but it gets better I swear, funny relationship, haha - Freeform, later on Karma's parents, lots of embarrassment, pranking each other, scandals, they fall in love, they hate each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2018-12-20 16:00:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11924316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satsuki_Miya/pseuds/Satsuki_Miya
Summary: Fem!Karma x Asano - Asano hates Akabane and Akabane hates Asano. Or not really. This is the story of how they happily kill each other every day and fall in love in process. Oh, by the way, the chairman ships it, Asano is a dork, Karma is savage and this was supposed to be a one shot but eh... too many ideas... too much shipping material... XD Just try it





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Haha, so this is the fanfic I told you about in my previous work "You never knew me and neither did I".  
> It started out (or was supposed to be) something like a light hearted crack or so, but later on, it seems I have fallen too deep into the ship so I couldn't help but make it something more. So yeah.  
> I hope you like it XD

Asano's P.O.V.

The next school year started, this time in High school, meaning one thing.

Akabane Karma was in class A.

No matter how much I hated the fact, I just couldn't do anything about it. Yes, she was currently the number one in our school. Yes, she really made sure to remind me of it _every fucking minute_ and yea, I hated her, even more than usual. I mean, although she stopped being all that violent and shit, she still enjoyed torturing and pranking people. Me especially, though it rarely worked out with me. Which fired her up even more.

Either way, this semester, I was going to take my first place back and then wipe that smug grin off her face.

The bell just rang, announcing the start of the period and that redheaded delinquent of a girl was still nowhere to be found. Huh, just after three weeks of school, she was already skipping? How arrogant. She wasn't going to even end up second this way.

I smiled at that thought and then answered when the teacher started taking attendance. It was quite annoying that even in the alphabet, Akabane was first and I second but it meant nothing to me. Nothing at all. It didn't bother me at all... Damn, why was the Chairman's name so lame?!

Anyway, I listened to the teacher's lessons. Nothing new to be honest, science wasn't all that hard after all. After ten minutes, however, a loud thud interrupted his boring speech and drew everyone's attention to the door. There stood our infamous student, her long hair messy instead of being pulled into her usual pony tail. At first, I thought she just overslept or something but examinatig her further, I had the feeling something was off. Maybe the slightly clenched teeth or her pale complexion, but it seems no one noticed.

"A-Akabane-san, uhm, please take a seat." The old teacher stuttered, not sure of how to speak with her. Ah right, no one knew how to talk to her from now on. She used to be the violent devil from class E after all but now? She stood above us and in this school, as everyone knows, grades were everything.

When the girl did so, the teacher asked, nervous: "Do you have any reasons for coming late?"

The redhead gave him a smile which I found a bit strained: "Soooorry~ I saw a really cute cat so I followed it and then there was an old lady who needed help so I just gave her a hand. After that, I saw the sky shining brightly with angels descending and they told me that I'm-"

"Akabane, that's enough." A vein popped on my head and I convulsively held my pen in order not to throw it at her, breaking it into two.

She just shrugged, giving me a mischievous look and then taking out her things. Her stupid behavior made me forget my first impression of her today.

* * *

It was the fifth period now, leaving us with another two hours before being allowed to go home. For some reason, today felt peaceful and silent, much to my delight. I figured out why immediately - the annoying former E-class student wasn't talking. Since the morning, she didn't leave her desk and didn't utter a single word. Did she have something evil planned out?

Finding it quite suspicious, I glanced at her from the front (she was just two desks behind me). As usual, she was lying on the surface though unlike before, her hair was covering half of her face, making it impossible for me to say whether she was sleeping or just provoking us.

But when I looked carefully, I started noticing something strange. Her body was tense, shivering maybe. The part of her face that was visible showed way too pale skin, white as sheet, and her breathing gave the impression of being uneven and careful. Something in my stomach jumped and I found myself frowning. Maybe it wouldn't harm to just make sure if anything was the matter, would it?

When the fifth period ended and when everyone from the class disappeared into the corridors, I walked up to Akabane who was still splashed on her table.

"Hey," I called out, not really sure whether that was a greeting or a challenge for a fight.

The redhead turned her head to see me and then straightened up, pulling her hair out of her face: "Hello, Number 2-kun. Do you need anything?"

"Stop with that ridiculous nickname," my voice was calm.

Karma maliciously smiled, pursing her lips: "But it suits you so well."

As I thought, she was deathly pale and forcing the smiles. It didn't seem as though she was sick or had a fever since her cheeks weren't flushed and her eyes still sharp but there must have been something troubling her. I might have been staring at her for way too long because she started fidgeting, her mask slipping for a bit and I saw a hint of pain in her face.

"What is it, Asano-kun? Falling for me the first thing in this school year?" She used a playful tone, one which would most likely enrage me if it weren't for the clenched fist she was hiding under the desk.

Grabbing her wrist, I locked my gaze with her surprised eyes and authoritatively ordered: "Cut the crap, Karma. I can see something is wrong," then I gulped, adding a bit more gently which honestly horrified both of us: "Are you sick?"

The girl took some time to react, pulling her hand away: "No, I'm perfectly fine."

Dissatisfied with her reply, I demanded an answer: "I don't believe you, you goddamned liar. Spit it out,"

Clearly irritated by my ranting, she violently stood up: "I said that everything is fine! Besides, why do you care so mu-"

And right then, her face lost all of the color she had left (which wasn't much) and she grabbed her stomach as if having been punched, keeling over. I immediately caught before she hit the ground and carefully sat down on the floor, supporting her with my hands.

"Akabane!" I shook her but to no avail. "Oi, Karma, what's wrong?!"

Now that she was unconscious and she had absolutely no control over her expression, it was painted in agony, scaring me even more. I already took out my phone to call the ambulance but got stopped when she started stirring.

Squinting her eyes, she opened them to see me hovering over her. The redhead was pretty confused and she tried to sit up, failing miserably and falling back to my arms with a whimper.

And that's it, no more playing around: "Stay put, I'm calling the ambulance."

But my heart skipped a beat when her hand clutched mine (she was strong), resulting in the phone falling down.

"Don't," she plead, I repeat - _plead_ \- although her whole body was undoubtedly hurting. I don't get it, why was this girl so stubborn?

"Karma, you just collapsed right before me and are obviously in a lot of pain. I'm taking you to the hospital so let go of me and focus on not fainting again."

She, however, paid no heed to my words: "Don't, please. It's nothing serious, really."

"What's wrong with you then? ' _Nothing serious'_ you say while motionlessly lying in my arms. If it weren't serious, you would jump up right now and kick me in the face for touching you."

"It's really nothing serious, I swear."

Narrowing my eyes, I demanded an explanation: "Then what is it? Tell me right now and I will see whether you need a doctor or not."

Akabane sighed, rubbing her eyes. She seemed very hesitant to say it since she repeatedly opened and closed her mouth, trying to speak up but something preventing her from doing it. Noticing that, I reached out for the mobile, having no patience to spare (because if she was seriously injured, every second would be precious).

That's when she began to talk: "It's..."

"It's?" I repeated, looking at her.

"Y-you know... that t-time of... the month. The... girly... thing..." her cheeks flushed and she averted her eyes, looking somewhere into the distance.

It took me a while to process what she said. The time of the month? Girly thi-

Fuck.

"You are... uhm... on your pe-"

"Yeah." the girl stopped me, the embarrassment affecting both of us. I would be surprised if the two of us weren't as red as tomatoes right now. For a few minutes, neither of us said a word or moved, feeling way too awkward to even breathe.

I was the first one to break the silence: "Sorry," and then I added: "But are you sure you don't want to go to a doctor? I mean, to actually pass out because of... cramps as you girls call it... that's a bit-" to which she only shook her head.

"It will get better eventually..."

Karma tried to get up once again but she clearly couldn't find her balance so I helped her sit down on a chair. Seeing how pathetic her state was, I offered: "I will tell the teacher you are not feeling well so go home."

She sarcastically snickered: "Thanks, but... I can barely move."

"Then I will call your pare-"

"Don't bother, they haven't been home for three months already." her voice sounded bitter which for some reason made my chest hurt. That might have been the reason I also suggested such a stupid thing:

"If that's the case, I have no other option. I will take you home."

My classmate widened her eyes in horror: "Number 2-kun, are you alright? Do you feel delirious or something?"

Not taking her words to my heart, I stood up: "Stay here, I'm informing the teacher and then we're going. Try to... withstand it until then." And I ran off, leaving the girl there speechless.

It took only a few minutes, using my charms and title of the perfect student council, and I was back with his permission and a very puzzled Akabane who was currently suffering. Despite this being the perfect time to mock her and to show her who is superior, even I didn't have the heart (or guts) to do anything. And anyway, it must have hurt a lot because she, the delinquent who was used to fighting and getting injured, truly had troubles even standing up, not to mention walking. To be honest, I pitied her.

"You know what, this is going to take ages," I declared after fifteen minutes of her attempt to get down the stairs, taking her into my arms and carrying her bridal style. Because piggy ride would hurt her stomach and who knows what all and the best position would be half-sitting.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She yelped but did not fight back. It seems even Akabane was wise enough to understand that she needed help.

"Taking the situation into my hands. You would die before getting home." And with that, I overcame four floors all the way down to the entrance. I stopped then, my arms hurting quite a bit.

"Damn," I cursed under breath but it seems Karma heard me.

"Am I too heavy?" she asked quietly.

"Sure as hell you are," I retorted back, continuing and heading out. That's when I noticed a soft sob coming from the person I was holding. At first I didn't want to believe but when I glanced at her, my horror came true.

Akabane Karma was crying.

"W-W-W-WHY ARE YOU- YOU KNOW I WAS JOKING RIGHT?!" I panicked since I have never made a girl cry. It was even more terrifying that the person weeping was my rival. But was she really shedding tears just because I said she is heavy?! Since when was my enemy so weak?!

The girl wiped those ugly things away and shook her head: "That's not it, sorry. Just let me be, talking with me now would be meaningless," and when did she learn the word 'sorry'?!

I didn't really understand it so I assumed it was that mood swing thing or that she couldn't bear the cramps anymore. By then, we reached the main gate where Taxi was waiting. I put the girl into it and after she said the address, we departed from school.

The long haired girl didn't utter a word in the car, initially, I thought because she was flustered or even annoyed, but it turned out she was too busy holding back and not breaking down right there. I whispered chauffeur to hurry up to which he only nodded.

After not even 5 minutes, we arrived at a great mansion (probably as big as mine). Having paid, I picked Akabane up and she passed me the keys.

"Second floor, first room on the left." The girl muttered when I opened the door. Her complexion didn't look good at all and she was puffing although the one doing the carrying was me. Not that she was that heavy, it's just a bit exhausting. The time before - I just let my tongue slip since the two of us always tease each other.

We entered her room which was quite big but simple. There was nothing in particular that I would call 'interesting' or 'girly', only big shelves with many books (not only textbooks but also manga and novels), a mirror on the wall, closets, cupboards, a desk, just an ordinary room.

Next to the writing table stood her bed, queen sized I would say, where I lay her and put some covers over her.

"Can you please give me painkillers?" she asked with closed eyes, curling up into a ball. Seeing the redhead like that, it hurt even me, "In the cupboard," she added.

Opening the cupboard, I spotted all kinds of pills in it, making me wonder why there were so many, and grabbed the one which had _painkillers_ written all over the cover. Then I went down to the kitchen (I saw it when entering the house) and brought a glass of water.

The girl gratefully accepted them, swallowing two pills at once. Then she collapsed back to the bed and clenched her stomach.

"Do you... need anything else?" I asked, tasting the feeling of complete uselessness for the first time. But hey, what could I do? Kill mother nature? Perfect as I was, that was impossible even for me.

"Knock me out cold so that I won't have to go through this," she hissed, her voice somewhere between joking and desperately wanting to be freed from it.

Ah, it seems I still had a heart. I mean, I had such a bad feeling leaving her alone in this condition and I really wanted to help her despite the fact she was the one person I hated the most. But it seems she was also the one person I could speak to without any restrictions. That's right, Akabane Karma was that one and the only person I did not have to fake kindness to. So it felt weird being kind to her for the first time, the more so when it was genuine.

"Staying here to laugh at my pathetic self? Sure, go ahead," she forced a laugh which soon died out, leaving us both in silence. Instead of returning home (because the school has long ended) or saying anything back, I just decided to be of emotional help and stay there.

"I will go home when you fall asleep. Until then, I'm not leaving." I declared, sitting down right next to her and observing her reaction.

The redhead showed her surprised but maybe also a bit happy expression, muttering something about me being a weirdo. But for some reason, I knew that she was actually very glad.

For another seven minutes, she fidgeted and turned from one side to another, whimpering in pain and doing her best to hold her tears back. I don't know why but I had a strong urge to caress her cheek or hug her in comfort but fought it as that would be completely unacceptable. In the end, she fell asleep so my presence there had no meaning anymore (not that it had any, to begin with). Before leaving, however, I couldn't help but fondle her hair. And as if that single gesture took away all of her pain, she smiled in sleep.

Feeling really hot, I sprinted out of her house and back to mine.

Gosh. I now remembered the question she asked before passing out. _Why do you care so much?_

I don't know. I wanted to say that I didn't want to have a student die on me but deep down, I knew it was just an excuse.

Akabane Karma was the person I hated the most.

And despite being unwilling to admit it, she was also the one person I cared about the most.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a bonus crack XD

 

**Roughly one month later:**

Karma's P.O.V.

I went to school as usual, expecting it to be another boring day. Indeed, the first period sucked the life out of me and I had no way of staying awake so I lied down, catching some sleep. When the alarm (I mean bell) rang, however, I found out I was completely wrong.

For the first time since _that_ affair (oh god, so embarrassing, can someone kill me? Or him?), Asano-kun approached me again, this time holding something behind his back. His gaze was running from one place to another, then it settled on the floor and his face was clearly red. I looked up at him in curiosity, not even trying to mind my sharp tongue.

"Ah, Second place-kun are you confessing to me? How sweet," resting my chin on my hand, I joked. He said nothing though which shocked me and actually made me wonder if he really was about to do something that ridiculous.

When he finally mustered some courage, he took out a teal blue bag from behind which was taped so I couldn't see what's inside. He shoved it into my face: "This is for you,"

I had no idea how to respond since Asano was the last person I'd expect a gift from and yeah, he was red. _What was this supposed to mean?!_

Hoping to find out, I took out scissors to cut the tape and had a look inside to see-

"It has been exactly 21 days since your last... _time of the month._ 21 days is said to be the minimal time between each of them so I made sure to prepare you in advance so that you wouldn't end up like before." He choked out, trying to stay cool but steam going out of his head. He was damn embarrassed and so was I.

But like... what?

He cleared his throat, his eyes focused somewhere on the right: "I researched the best pain killers and bought two packets of them. Also I read that the best thing is to keep your stomach and lower back warm so there is a rubber bag for hot water. You can then put it on where it hurts. I think you know how to use it but if not, find it on the internet. I didn't know what color you prefer so I got you the red one since, well, _Aka_ bane. Getting tea for calming down didn't seem as a bad idea either so I bought you one packet of fruit tea and ginger as well because it warms you up. I heard that girls crave sweets so there you have some biscuits and chocolate but try not to devour it all." While I was looking into all that he has described, astonished, surprised and a bit scared too, he got even redder.

"A-And the last thing... Just f-for sure like if you needed, uhm..."

"You don't have to say it," I got secondhand embarrassment and immediately closed the bag, hiding it in my school bag. The last thing he was so struggling with saying out loud: that idiot bought me sanitary napkins and tampons.

"Thank you, Asano-kun, I appreciate it, but..." I whispered awkwardly and stood up, taking a book into my hand. And then I threw it at him: "YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL?! THAT'S CREEPY AS FUCK AND SINCE WHEN DO YOU CARE ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND DID YOU REALLY COUNT THE DAYS I MEAN WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!"

Thank god not many people were in the class because I must have sounded and looked like a mad witch and Asano was a mess.

But I was a bit happy, I guess, that he cared.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whatcha think? Personally, I'm dying of embarrassment as well XD


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope you guys know that I'm updating this quickly just because I'm actually reposting it :D

Third person's P.O.V.

The chairman has changed a lot in the past months thanks to a certain teacher. He came to accept his students as they were. He learned that kindness didn't mean weakness. And for the first time in who knows how long, he became able to feel love.

That, among other things, meant a significant improvement in the relationship between him and his son Gakushuu. Although the formalities have yet to be dropped, their conversation no longer consists of grades, future barbaric plans with each other and school. The atmosphere loosened up a lot. Sometimes he even saw the young boy's genuine feelings instead of that wary mask he used to wear, but as expected, the way the strawberry blond was raised influenced him a lot. And so, Gakuho knew almost nothing about his son's likes, hobbies and such since he was never trusted enough to be told.

Therefore, he thought he would find out about his son's interests himself, turning on the boy's laptop and hacking it (yes, that was normal.) Considering that Gakushuu was a healthy 16 years old _teenager_ , the chairman expected anything - inappropriate films, books, and yes, porn.

What he came upon though left him deadpanned for a good hour. Asano Sr. sat by the computer, browsing the history and clicking on every site that was registrated there. About twenty of the google researches were under the title _'women period'_ , another ten about _'cramps'_ , then a dozen of ' _how to survive period cramps'_. There were also many... original blogs named such as _'girlystuff'_ or _'being_a_girl_sucks_ ' which wrote about the best remedies for the... the readers surely know what because Gakuho was still shocked to say it. Anyway, after that, countless searches were done under the code _'best remedies for cramps'_ then _'tea for pain'_ then _'the best sweets'._

And as if it weren't enough, the last things in the history he found were ' _help, I think I'm going nuts_ ', _'I can't stop thinking about her'_ and last - _'Someone fucking kill me'._

Well, as mentioned, Asano Sr. learned to accept his pupils as they were. Of course, that applied to his only son who seemed to either have quite strange interests or have been doubting his gender, as well.

For very long, the man just sat there with his hands supporting his chin with eyes glued to the screen. Maybe he was trying to think of something that would explain what he had just seen, or maybe he was trying to come to terms with the unusual behavior of his son but it could also be that he was just so stunned he turned into a statue.

"I'm home," suddenly, there was the sound of doors opening. The man did not move from his place, however, only turning his head slightly and doing his best to sound calm.

"Hello, Asa- I mean, Gakushuu-kun." He greeted him, still sitting there. It was then that the teenager realized what his father was doing or reading, to be exact, and blood rushed to the youngster's face.

"Wha-?!" The boy lunged forward, snatching the laptop from the older man and immediately shutting it off. He already wanted to scream or explain but was interrupted.

"I just want you to know that as your father, I am willing to accept every side of you." The chairman cleared his throat and continued. "Even if you are keen on... this information and are eager to learn more about the particular issue..."

"What? No! You are getting the wro-" Gakushuu stuttered, his face completely red. As if the today with Akabane throwing a book at him wasn't embarrassing enough.

"No, Asano-kun! It's alright! You don't have to hide your true self anymore!" His father, however, insisted on showing that he was fine with it. Whatever that 'it' was.

His son, however, didn't have neither enough patience nor any more blood that could rush to his face anymore and threw his hands into air: "Look, I was looking into the matter just beca-"

The chairman didn't let the latter finish, pulling him into a hug and tightly squeezing.

"It's alright, Gakushuu-kun. I understand you want to try new things," he whispered, creeping the shit out of Asano Jr. "Just rest assured that you are truly a boy. I confirmed it myself when you were born."

Needless to say, it took good 4 hours for Asano-kun to thoroughly explain the situation and refute all of his father's wild imaginations and opinions.

That might have been the most hectic and awkward day of his life, to be honest.

* * *

**Bonus: after those 4 hours of talking it over**

"Oh, and one last question," the man stated, stopping his son from walking away.

Feeling sweat dropping down his spine (because really, Gakushuu was so done with everyone's shit), the boy forced a smile: "Yes?"

"Taking the whole story into consideration," Gakuho started, unusually hesitant to address the issue. "and then your last researches on the internet."

 _Oh no,_ The strawberry blond sighed, having a vague idea where it was going. Because he outright wrote it in those last three searches in google.

"Are you perhaps in love with miss Akabane Karma?"

Now it was his turn to throw something. Taking the closest thing to him (a vase with flowers), he sent it flying towards his father without even thinking. Just as he thought, he was going nuts. Unfortunately, the elder man caught it just in time and then put it down.

"No way in hell," Gakushuu hissed, his cheeks getting red once again. He and in love? No. Despite those 41 articles he read about a boy suddenly getting very self-conscious around a girl being a sign of love, no.

He. Wasn't. In. Love. With. AKABANE.

Like, who the fuck would care about that delinquent of a girl? So what if her skin was completely flawless and smooth? So what if he liked the way her silky, red hair smelled like roses every time he was near her? Or that her mischievous eyes were the most beautiful ones he had ever seen? It meant nothing! Not even the fact that he was glancing at her every here and the-

Fuck.

"Yeah, I think I love her." he admitted quietly and right after that collapsed of too rapid increase in temperature.

Indeed.

Today was a hectic day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry he doesn't :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some drama... in a non-traditional way :D

School festival was about to start and the class A's theme this year was 'Theather'. The class had a wonderful idea going on their mind - to play Romeo and Juliet from Shakespear. Clichéd, right? Well, despite that, the whole class accepted because of one simple reason. And that was:

Asano Gakushuu was playing Romeo Montague.

And here came the most difficult question of their lives. Who will be his Juliet?

"Isn't it obvious?" The chairman suddenly entered the classroom, making the students calm down and stop with the heated discussion, mainly consisting of girls fighting over that role.

Just as those words were said, a certain strawberry blond froze with horror occupying his mind. His father was about to do something utterly ridiculous, wasn't he?

"I see none other better suited to be Asano-kun's Juliet than miss Akabane Karma!" he declared with a smile which would most likely charm every single person in the room. Normally.

This time, however, he was met with a great deal of objections and questioning looks. Were Akabane Karma right now in the class (she skipped again, saying that since all of the festival preparations were going on, it was going to be a pain), she would most likely throw knives at his face.

The man did not seem fazed by the reactions though, only loosening his smile and forming it into an expression somewhere near 'threatening' and 'merciless'.

"Does anyone have a problem with that?" he slowly asked, eyeing every student and sending a clear warning.

It worked quite well because not even a single sound was made then, much to the chairman's satisfaction.

And so, it was settled.

Asano Gakushuu and Akabane Karma were from now on the deeply in love pair with a tragic fate.

(Excuse me, it seems I was wrong. Romeo and Juliet were the 'deeply-in-love pair with tragic fate'. Asano and Karma were, in fact, the deep-in-shit pair with comical fate).

* * *

That evening, Asano residence:

Usually, at this hour the chairman would be sipping his coffee and reading a book while his son would be in his room, studying. Not today though.

"What the hell is this about," the youngest Asano hissed, hitting the table with his palm.

"Whatever do you mean?" Board Chairman asked, feigning innocence with a sweet smile.

It made Gakushuu want to punch the man.

"Why did you give Akabane the role of Juliet?!" he asked, something in his voice cracking. In no way was he happy. Not at all. (Or at least he thought so) What was for sure though was the fact that he felt furious and embarrassed.

"Oh dear, is it so bad to support my son in his love life?" the elder man grinned, looking very evil although, in fact, he just wanted to help. He honestly did want to help but it seems being nice didn't fit him.

"YES! I MEAN, NO!" the strawberry blond sighed, clutching his head: "I admit that the last time I said that Akabane interests me but it was just a misunderstanding. I had a very complicated day so I just blurted out a complete nonsense. She isn't anything but a rival to me. I harbor no special feelings towards her so I would appreciate it, Sir, if you did not do unnecessary things."

And with that, he sprinted into his room while trying to hide his blush and repetitively denying his feelings.

But Gakuho knew better.

And I will let you in on a big secret:

_The chairman shipped them._

* * *

The next day started out very... lively. The first thing heard in the room was a furious voice belonging to soon-to-be Juliet.

"WHAT?!" the redheaded girl yelled out, looking very shocked. No, not shocked. Mortified.

The students who were talking to her, or at least were just a while ago - a boy and a girl - seemed to be very afraid her and trembled like chihuahuas facing a demon. Which Akabane most probably resembled at the moment. The girl noticed that the two were scared shitless, unable to answer her questions, so she turned away and searched for that one person who would surely thoroughly explain _what the fuck happened yesterday._

"What the hell do you mean by _Juliet_? Is this some kind of sick joke?" She grabbed Asano's collar, the words seething through her teeth.

The boy, however, was prepared for this reaction and had a very calm expression on, despite the fact he realized just how close they were.

"It wasn't my idea, at the very least." he sighed, looking into those amber orbs and then averting his gaze because, seriously, even when infuriated, they were beautiful.

"Can't you do something about it?! Tell the chairman-"

"I did and he had none of it." The strawberry blond interrupted her, his voice clearly annoyed. "Do you think I wanted it like this?"

The girl glared at him but let go, noticing that they were attracting too much of attention. She heard countless of whispers and gossips, mostly about how ungrateful she was for being given the chance to play with the _oh so fucking fabulous Asano-kun._

Yeah.

Fuck them.

Karma wasn't happy at all and she most certainly wasn't blushing when she read the script.

_*And then, Romeo and Juliet kiss*_

She didn't spend the whole night thinking about it. Not at all. And the same went for Asano.

Either way, she didn't learn her text properly. The girl had declared that she was dragged into this without her own consent and that if they didn't like it, they should change the roles. They wouldn't (or couldn't, to be exact) though and she knew it which relieved her a bit. Not that she let it show to be honest.

But the reason she didn't memorize it yet was also the fact that she was distracted by that single line.

_*Romeo and Juliet kiss*_

Which means that she and Asano would kiss.

Her prince on a white horse (we know who that is) however learned everything perfectly. He refused to admit that it was somewhat exciting, acting was his first time, but even then, it turned out he excelled in it as well.

On the current (about third) rehearsal, everything went well until:

"Oh Romeo, Romeo, why do you have to be Romeo?" Karma in a simple white dress asked while standing on the fake balcony. She didn't like the name though. She found it hard to pronounce, being Japanese and all, and she got tired of repeating it all the time.

So she changed it a bit: "Asano, Asano, why do you have to be Asano?"

No, even that was too cheesy for her. So she tried it again.

"Hey Asano, Asano, why the fuck do you have to be Asano?"

And the person in questioned deadpanned. _What the hell?_

"I mean, why do you have such a stupid name? It sounds so weird and I don't like it so rename yourself to something else or something like that, I don't remember the lines anymore." She sighed, leaning on the railing. It was going to be funnier this way. Then she waited for an answer from her Romeo. But nothing came as he was still too dumbfounded by her sudden improvisation.

"HEY ASANO! TIME FOR YOU TO SHINE YOU IDIOT!" She yelled while taking something round (a fake fruit?) from the fake tree ornament closeby and throwing it at where the strawberry blond was supposed to be.

A cry of pain was heard and suddenly the main character stepped out of a bush with a furious face. But even then, he tried to stick with the lines: "I trust your words. Just call me your love, and I will take a new name. From now on I will never be Romeo agai-"

"Oh dear, stalking me from a bush? How perverted." the redhead chuckled, the play starting to amuse her. "Besides, who are you again?"

Gakushuu had veins popping on his head but he stubbornly recited Romeo's words: "I don't know how to tell you who I am by telling you a name. I hate my name, dear saint-"

"Booooring. Just tell me who you are," the girl took another fake fruit and this time threw it into Asano's face.

The poor boy just couldn't withstand it anymore: "You know what, Juliet? Fuck you. I didn't fly on those ridiculous wings of love or whatever it was and didn't risk getting gutted by your crazy relatives just to get a tomato thrown at my face."

"Oh guts? You don't have them, considering that you showed your sorry ass only after the party. You should have used those _wings of love_ to get me the fuck out of here, it's boring and my fianceé is a pedophile. Just like you. Tch, falling for a 14 years old, don't you feel ashamed?"

"Juliet my dear, your mouth sure is running today. What about you jump down into my arms and I dodge?" The boy smiled sweetly. "If you desire to be free so much,"

"Romeo my dear, should you speak any longer, I will" Karma returned the murderous grin, practically saying that he was irritating her to death. "But promise me you will follow in my steps? It will be fun having two corpses in my mansion. My family will most likely accuse yours of killing me and burn the whole Montague residence down. Such a fun~"

"Why don't we make it easier and burn _your_ residence do-"

"STOP!" suddenly, several voices interrupted this... _passionate_ conversation.

The two main characters were too heated they forgot they had an audience.

And that among them was the Chairman himself. (who now ships them even more)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

Third person's P.O.V.

After the class 1-A of Kunugigaoka High School witnessed the 'romantic' scenes of Asano Gakushuu as Romeo Montague and Akabane Karma as Juliet Capulet, they decided to rather change the topic.

It wasn't like the two of them couldn't stop bickering every scene, or that they never stuck to their lines. No one noticed that they shot each other burning glares, that each of their sweet-sounding words resembling love songs were, in fact, honest death wishes. Nor the fact that they altered the plot into a full-out war between the main characters.

Not at all.

That never crossed anyone's mind.

Because everyone knew that they perfectly fit together and needed to interact with each other more so that this beautiful love could bloom to its fullest.

***needless to say that the person who wrote the previous passages was brainwashed by Chairman + heavily influenced by sarcasm**

Back to the topic:

After countless serious sessions with the homeroom teacher (who was the Chairman himself, to his son's agony) and the actors, they came to a conclusion that 'Romeo and Juliet' was not to be played. For various reasons _(students' safety being one of them)._

"Does anyone have any suggestions?" One of the male students (whose name isn't important, let's call him student1) asked in one of those conferences.

Not even a single word was uttered. Overlooking the fact that the starring figures would go after each other's throat no matter which play they were doing, it didn't help that the whole class was deeply traumatized by the overly sweet and innocent smile mister Asano was wearing.

And that was also exactly why no one dared to say it outloud.

"What about you find a new Juliet or whoever it is you want and let me sleep through this?" Suddenly one courageous female voice sighed, earning everyone's attention.

Yes, those were the words everyone wanted to say. And there she was, Akabane Karma in her full cheeky self, lazily swinging on her chair.

"Miss Akabane, we have discussed this matter already. The answer is no. And please, refrain from experimenting whether it's possible to balance yourself on one chair leg. Aside from the fact that it isn't, you are in danger of hurting yourself." The adult patiently replied, his face as smooth as fuck (according to Karma).

She rolled her eyes but listened anyway.

"Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be performed?" the teacher repeated the question, eyeing all of his lab rat- students.

That's when one hand was raised. To everyone's surprise, it was also by the least expected person to it!

"In my opinion, Katherina from 'The Taming of the Shrew' is very befitting to Akabane's personality." Asano Gakushuu stated, his voice clear and determined.

_Just a small summary of the plot:_

_The main characters are Katherina, a stubborn, cheeky girl with sharp tongue - the 'shrew' of this story - and a sly fortune seeker Petruchio. Katherina is forced to marry this man who is determined to 'tame' her by all means available. After lots of **psychological tormenting** , Kate changes into a nice, obedient bride. In other words, he breaks her strong will._

But Karma knew about that story. She read it years ago and didn't like the end any bit: "You just want to enjoy seeing me suffer, don't you?"

The boy in question didn't even try to hide it: "It would indeed be pleasant to have you listen to each of my words." then he sweetly quoted: _"Oh heavens, Kate, I wouldn't think of burdening you. I know how light and carefree you are."_

The redhaired girl raised an eyebrow, surprised by the sudden change. But she herself knew what came after this line: _"Too light for a lout like you to catch—though no lighter than I should be."_

 _"Should be? Maybe you should be the subject of some buzz!"_ the strawberry blond continued.

 _"Buzz off, buzzard."_ The girl retorted, her face disgusted.

This was indeed getting interesting. Gakushuu played along: _If I'm a buzzard, you're a turtledove."_

_"Only a buzzard would think so."_

_"_ _Come, my little wasp—you're too angry."_ Asano waved his hand in a superior way.

 _"If I'm a wasp, look out for my stinger."_ Karma rested her chin on her palm, the look in her eyes dangerous.

_"_ _All I have to do is remove it."_

The girl snickered: _"True, if a fool such as yourself could find it."_

 _"_ _Everyone knows where a wasp wears its stinger. In its tail."_ The used-to-be Ace said, enjoying this conversation way too much.

 _"_ _No, in its tongue."_ Karma's face cracked into a grin. Asano surely wouldn't think that this delinquent of a girl would remember such an irrelevant fight of Katherine and Petruchio, would he?

_"_ _Whose tongue?"_

The grin now turned into a smug grin: " _Yours, if we're talking about tales."_

_("Tales" here means "lies," as in "telling tales," and is a pun on "tail," which, when Petruchio first mentions it, means "butt." Their punning involves a lot of sexual innuendo. Katherine/Karma basically told Petruchio/Asano to kiss her ass.)_

And this loveful conversation would have taken another twenty minutes if it weren't for a slightly irritated chairman.

"My dear students, would you please calm down?"

Either way, the girl was satisfied with the outcome, sending a provocating kiss to her rival.

Karma 1, Asano 0

After a long pause when no one knew how to continue, another student had an idea: "What about Hamlet?"

Gakushuu immediately reacted: "I'm in favor of that idea."

The A class dared to hope that for once, they would come to an agreement without any bickering and fighting. Oh, how wrong they were.

"I'm not very sure about that," The chairman refused, shaking his head. "We need two main characters, a girl and a boy."

In other words, he wanted shipping material for his son and his soon to be wife.

"But that's exactly it, sir." The strawberry blonde declared as though it was the most obvious thing in this world. "I will be Hamlet whose love interest is Ophelia. I would be most delighted if Akabane played her role."

The girl in question frowned, the realization hitting her: "As hell I will. Ophelia is too obedient and stupid, not to mention she goes nuts and drowns herself."

This time it was Asano with a smug grin on his face: "Why not? I wouldn't mind having you die. The sooner, the better, actually. And with me playing the cunning and manful Hamlet, everything would be perfect."

"I don't want to spoil your silly expectations, but you do know that you die in the end, right Second-place-kun?"

"I die a hero, you die a screw loose." And Gakushuu returned her provocating kiss back.

Karma 1, Asano 1

But no matter how much they wanted to settle this battle, they weren't allowed to do so. Not only did they enrage the Chairman very much, their high-level conversation fried their classmates' brain.

When the score settled to [Karma 3, Asano 3], even Gakuho had to accept that those two weren't getting along any time soon, ridding them of their roles and giving them to someone else.

And then making them clean up after the theater was finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that everyone knows Hamlet so I don't have to write what it is about. XD
> 
> The quoted lines of 'The Taming of the Shrew' and the definition of 'tale' is from 'sparknotes dot com'. What I find really hilarious is that those two figures really fit Asan and Karma XDDDD
> 
> Hope you guys liked it!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is how it continues :D  
> key words:  
> Alone, dark, closet, hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have been warned

Asano's P.O.V.

"Where is she?!" I hissed, looking around in search for a certain redhead.

Unbelievable. Unforgivable. Just... AGH.

I violently threw the broom, glad that there was no one to see me on a rampage. As for why I was pissed off: Since I and Karma were the only ones not taking part in the theater thing, we were made to tidy up. That delinquent girl said that she will go take a brush and another broom.

The play had ended about half an hour ago and **Karma. Is. Nowhere. To. Be. Fucking. SEEN.**

And I refused to clean up this chaotic mess by myself. Seriously, it looked like a hurricane came and threw up. Though to be honest, I just didn't want to grant her the joy of ditching and leaving me to take care of this all.

Therefore, I headed to the basement where she was supposed to go, not really hoping to find her there. But at least I knew that Akabane couldn't have left the school yet. There are cameras by the entrance and if she were to sneak out, the chairman would notice and force her back.

Either way, I surely didn't expect to find her laying on a few boxes playing Nintendo or whatever it was and with a lollipop in her mouth. She most probably noticed my presence but her eyes did not leave the screen, which really irritated me.

"What are you doing," I asked, trying not to show how fed up I was.

"Oh, Second-place-kun? Done with your work?" She dared to ask, still not sparing me even a look. Damn, I wanted to throw something at her. I so wanted.

Putting on a strained smile, I clenched my fists to calm down: "I might have overestimated your intelligence so I'm going to repeat it again, alright? Listen carefully."

She looked uninterested.

So I came to her, snatched that nintendo thing (earning a growl and murderous gaze) and started slowly:

"Both me _and_ you are supposed to clean up. Do you understand? Me. And. You. That's two people. Can you count to two?" I kept that sweet tone, somehow feeling satisfied seeing her getting angry.

"Give it back," she ordered with a scowl. "I haven't finished."

Turning it off (and almost getting hit by the girl) I refused, giving her a disapproving look: "Akabane, you aren't running away from your duties. Let's go before someone finds us here, I don't need any more trouble."

"If you don't want any trouble, go away and let me be. If I were to be found here with you, it would start weird rumors." She sat up, pouting. It surprised me that she worried about these kinds of things instead of saying something super sarcastic as usual.

Her long silky hair was all messy from having been lied on despite being pulled into a neat pony tail with wine-coloured ribbons. The way she tied it gave her both a cute but strong aura and when the wind decided to play with them, she looked as fierce as the Virago. But now, stray locks found their way into her face and some got tangled around her neck. Even in this dark basement, they shone bright red like roses, making those amber irises of her even more outstanding. And-

And I can't believe I just spent a whole minute thinking about her hair.

"Hey, Second-place, you there?" she waved her hand in front of my face, pulling me back from the stream of... _ridiculously useless_ thoughts.

When I was about to retort something back, what we feared the most came true. There were sounds of people going towards here and both of us flinched, panicking. I didn't really believe Karma's 'rumors' excuse for not wanting to be found here with me but not that was the last thing I cared about right now.

The reason was simple. Everyone knew that we were supposed to be cleaning now. If they saw us doing shit here... it would have a bad influence on my reputation. (As if getting punished by the chairman wasn't enough). This girl was really ruining both my image and health.

"Wha-" I yelped when Karma suddenly took my hand and pulled me somewhere. It was too dark to see where since I turned off the only source of light (the game) and this room had no windows.

"Shh," She covered my mouth and it was when we crashed into something metallic that I realized what kind of trouble I just got myself into.

I immediately yanked my hand away with the intention of escaping from this small, dark closet but the door opened, revealing two male shadows which gave me no other option but to withstand this tiny place.

Neither me nor Karma dared to move an inch, not wanting to get exposed (why again?!) and waiting for the two students to go away. It took way too long. They were talking and probably carrying things because I heard something heavy crush right beside the locker we were hiding in. But all of it was muffled by the blood rush in my ears. I did my best to ignore the choking feeling which resulted in completely shutting myself away from the outer world.

"They are gone," the girl announced out of blue, pulling me out of my own world. She exhaled in relief and opened the door. Or at least tried to.

"What's wrong," I asked, not liking the rawness of my voice. The girl thankfully didn't register it as she was too busy smashing the door.

"Something is blocking-" she didn't finish as she slammed into the wall too hard, making it sway and then-

Boom.

Both of us fell down while still inside that metallic box. What's worse, we fell _on_ the doors. Which meant we had like... 20% of getting away on our own.

Damn, this was so bad.

So. Fucking. Bad.

* * *

Karma's P.O.V.

Ridiculous.

Completly, utterly ridiculous.

What have I done to get this?! No, it's not the fact that I wanted to ditch Asano and karma was making me pay for it. Hah. How funny, 'karma making Karma pay'. Just fucking wonderful. I have never been more amused. Now, someone, _get us the fuck out_.

No matter how much I attempted to roll this thing on one side and then get out, it just didn't go at all. The rectangular shape and its width compared to length made it near to impossible to move it from the inside. Not to mention we were technically lying right now. It was a bit uncomfortable to lie on something hard on your side and even more so when there was another human on your right.

"Oi, Asano!" I barked, annoyed by the fact that until now he has done and said nothing. "What about you help me a bit?"

He said nothing again. It was hard to see in this darkness - if only he had given me back that game! We would at least have some source of light.

When I, however, looked at his face properly, all the anger disappeared, replaced by slight worry tingling in my stomach.

The class president's face gave off the feeling of being in distress with his eyes shut, fists clenched and although it was barely noticeable, he seemed to be struggling to breathe.

"Hey," I shook his shoulder, using a mocking voice. "Don't tell me you are claustrophobic."

The boy snickered, forcing his eyes open: "W-What do you take me for."

His voice was shaking. I could hear it so well and indeed, he gave off the impression of suffocating.

"Nice try, but you sound like you are having a meltdown." I tried to joke but the latter didn't react much. Which didn't indicate anything good.

"I'm perfectly fine," Asano denied again, slamming the doors a few times to prove his point. His punches were weak though. And his fingers trembling. That's when I realized just how troublesome or serious this could get, dropping the sarcasm and mockery.

I sighed and started thinking of all possible outcomes. Either we would somehow get out of here by ourselves (which I doubted with Asano scared shitless) or we would have to rely on someone's help. That meant call for it or wait until morning or who knows how long. None of that was pleasant.

Back to the idiot, he didn't look (or rather sound, it was hard to see) very good. I tried calling him a few times but he was either lost in his own thoughts or the gasps were drowning out my voice.

It's not like I was worried or anything, alright? It's just that if the class pres died on me here, it would trouble me a lot. And I most certainly didn't want to deal with a corpse this close to me and... wait. Now that I thought about it, we were really close. We were like four inches away from each other in this small closet. So close I felt his heavy breathing on my face. The smell of mint. The scent of lavender on his skin. So Asano liked the lavender shampoo? It suited him, the royal violet of his eyes and the strong and yet gentle fragrance of lavender. For some reason, really liked i-

No, I did **not.**

God, why was my face so hot.

"Asano-kun, calm the heck down," I put a hand on his cheek to get his attention, realizing how clammy and cold it was. Damn, this was worse than I thought.

He tried to protest but at this point, it looked more like hyperventilation to me.

"Hey, slow down your breathing, you are going to be dizzy," okay, I admit that it was starting to concern me.

The strawberry blond was about to snap something but within a second, I recognized hopelessness and resignation in his eyes.

"I'm already dizzy," he clutched his head. "I'm sick."

Gulping, I tried to remember everything I ever read about phobias or panic attacks. Not much but it should at least prevent him from going crazy.

"Asano-kun, I need you to control your breathing," I said with a serious tone.

The boy made a strange sound, something between a sarcastic snort and a cry of frustration: "I'm _trying._ Have been for-" gasps for air stopped him. "the past five minutes. I _know_ what I'm supposed to do."

If it weren't for the fact that he was practically having a panic attack, I would retort something not so nice back. But I just couldn't seem to find any will to do that, seeing his vulnerability. The more so when this person here was supposed to be the invincible, perfect student.

I don't know what drove me to do it. I don't know if I was even thinking straight anymore. But when I reached out my hand for his and squeezed it in a reassuring way, it felt like the best thing I could do for him.

"What-" he shot me a confused look but I didn't let him say anything. My face was already burning as it were, I didn't need any more reason to be embarrassed.

"J-Just take it easy, okay?" I stuttered while trying to escape those curious eyes of his. "I'm only reminding you that you aren't alone. So... don't give in to the fear." The last part came out silently.

The latter had a strange look on his face, his lips curving up so slightly it was barely visible. He closed his eyes and concentrated but he didn't seem to make much progress.

I remembered what mothers usually did to help their children relax. Awkward as it was, I found myself itching to do it.

Reluctantly, I put my free hand on his head and started stroking it, gently, slowly as if the person in front of me was a newborn baby. It didn't feel out of place nor forced, I don't know how exactly it felt or what the hell I was thinking, but the fact that Asano didn't say anything and that his face stopped wrinkling in despair encouraged me to continue.

I ignored the strangely warm and comfortable feeling in my chest and the burning of my cheeks, only focusing on helping the boy out. I watched his face and noticed some things. Like that he was damn handsome. His eyelashes were long, longer than most of girls' making him look like a doll. Skin seemingly smooth and his lips... oh those full lips - a touch of pink, slightly opened to reveal perfect white teeth.

I needed help.

Anyway, the idiot stayed quiet, not moving an inch. But I noticed that that the pace of his breathing decelerated and so did the strong hold on my hand. He was calming down.

Maybe too much.

"Asano-kun?" I called out sheepishly _(SINCE WHEN AM I SHEEPISH?!)_ , not wanting to believe that he fell asleep.

But he did. And I think that it was better this way, he wouldn't have to suffer because of the phobia and I wouldn't have to suffer from embarrassment.

And the sight strawberry blond sleeping wasn't so bad _(WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING LIKE WTF?!)_

* * *

**Bonus:**

The chairman was in search of two people.

His son.

And his son's crush.

Much to his surprise, he found the place where they should have been cleaning abandoned with one broom broken into two laying on the floor. So he proceeded to look for them, slightly enraged and ready to give them a long lecture.

After an hour, he reached the basement to find a fallen metal closet where sports equipment was put. Sighing, he headed towards it with the intention of returning it to its place but the unexpected weight struck him.

It took him a few minutes to finally move the thing to discover two of his students sleeping there.

Asano Gakushuu and Akabane Karma.

Both of them nodded off, facing each other and holding hands. Miss Akabane had her left arm around the boy's neck, looking as though she was holding him in a passionate hug. The strawberry blond never looked more peaceful than in the intimate presence of this redhead whose face didn't have any sign of being troubled at all.

The chairman stood there for a while, processing the sight with all the anger dissipating and then taking his phone out while making thousands of photos. Then he wiped off the nosebleed, wondering whether he should lock them up himself somewhere some other time.

You know.

For the sake of shipping material ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What, did you think I'd write something... O____O inappropriate? :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karma wants to get a reaction out of Asano so she just pranks him the whole day. But karma - the actual karma - is a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who isn't dead XD  
> I'm sorry.

 

Karma's P.O.V.

"Asano-kun, don't you think you should go to a psychologist? You know, that claustrophobia of yours is pretty serious." I said lazily while lying on the strawberry blond's desk. It was only yesterday when we got stuck in the equipment locker and then somehow got out. I don't know when nor thanks to what/whom and although I was glad, it really creeped me out because

1/ I found myself soundly sleeping next to Asano while holding hands

2/ someone must have seen us

3/ we don't know who

Either way, we never mentioned it again and had no intention to. Despite that, I couldn't help but be curious and maybe just a tiny bit concerned about the irrational fear the boy harbored towards tight and dark places.

"I don't want you to break down on me again, you know. It's a pain," I proclaimed with a bit of mockery in my voice, wondering whether I was trying to convince myself or him that I didn't actually care.

The person in front of me, however, didn't utter a single word, keeping his head low instead and pretending to be reading a book. He wasn't, it was obvious since he didn't move his eyes, only fixed them to one place. Besides, he was holding it upside down.

"Or should I tell someone? The chairman for ex-"

He violently shut the book, cutting me off.

I raised an eyebrow at that, trying to see what kind of expression he was wearing.

"That's none of your business, Akabane," He hissed, his bangs blocking my view to his face. He was probably getting really pissed off.

Could be fun.

"But Asano-kun, I'm just sooo worried. Did something happen that you would like to talk about?" I pursed my lips with a pitiful look on.

He tried to ignore it but his shoulders were slightly shaking and fists clenched. Indeed, Second-place-kun was a good toy to kill time with.

"Or should I hold your hand when we are in an elevator too?" Using a playful tone, I jokingly offered and grabbed his hand to emphasize the "worry" I was displaying. The moment I touched his hand however and perceived its warmth, something in my stomach moved and I would have most probably freaked out if it weren't for Asano being faster.

"T-THERE IS NO NEED TO!" He shouted, or rather squeeled (because his voice literally jumped up two octaves), his face as red as my hair. The latter was gasping with bewildered eyes and as he abruptly stood up, the chair fell backwards with a loud _thud._

It was now that it came to me that the whole time he wasn't pissed off - he was embarrassed. And that flustered face of his right now was...

_Cute_

I never knew Asano had such colorful expressions. Let alone such a lovely tint on his cheeks. It made me want to see it more times. Don't get the wrong idea, it's not like I found it adorable or anything, I just thought it would be amusing.

And with that, the plan for the day was settled:

Let's have Asano-kun make more flustered faces.

* * *

I thought it would be easy but it seems our little scaredy cat was mentally quite stable. I mean, I tried all kinds of things to get him to react at least half as much as in the morning but just couldn't seem to be capable of doing so.

Firstly I wrote pretty things into his textbook before the lesson. When he opened it, he didn't even bat an eye, only put it back to his bag and... took another one.

Like does he have copies of all the textbooks?!

The next attempt was to embarrass him in front of his friends. After having put many inappropriate photos into his bag (don't ask), I inconspicuously pushed one of his used to be virtuosos friends who bumped into Asano which resulted in the bag falling and revealing the photos :)

As surprised as he was, he didn't make such a big scene out of it as I expected. He sighed and started talking about this being most probably a 'prank' by _someone_ (yes, he knew it was me). And since the perfect student was perfect, everyone believed him and no longer questioned it.

So I thought I would make it a bit bigger. I 'accidently' spilled my strawberry milk on his pants (crotch to be precise). He gave me a fed up and irritated look but peacefully went off to the toilet, taking off his jacket and holding it in the front to cover the stain. I knew he would change right away, that's why I sprinkled a bit of itching powder and drew smiles on his spare pants in advance. (Come on, I was the queen of pranks and mischief + I stole some of Koro-sensei's secret techniques)

The closest to my desired result though was a faint blush and a slight sprint back to the bathroom when he noticed that. But at least I got to see his uncomfortable and frantic face when he was fighting the urge to scratch his butt.

...

I wondered why I was willing to go so far just for one of his expressions.

* * *

Asano's P.O.V.

I would have killed her.

Right after the photos incident, I would have thrown a desk at her and wouldn't have to deal with this constant... torment.

But I couldn't. Even after four hours, I still felt the touch of her hand on mine, the soft skin, the warm sensation and _damn it._ I felt weird even looking at her.

Though I would really appreicate it if she stopped making my school life hell. Seriously, why was she so hyped today? It used to be one prank for one day or maybe two days but now? What was this supposed to mean?!

Anyway, fifth period was up - P.E. Although the lesson has already started, I was currently going back to my classroom because the teacher left his keys in the cupboard and needed them. And I was the most reliable one, of course. Either way, it was fine - I didn't have to deal with Akabane. Though I don't remember seeing her on the lesson. She was probably ditching, that deliquent of a girl.

Arriving to the destination, I opened the doors and headed towards the cupboard for-

**NO, I FUckiNg DId NoT BECaUse AKABANE WaS cuRRENtlY StandING tHeRe hALF NakED,§!"¨§/§(!"'?!**

My head was so messed up my mind automatically switched to the poker-face and outta-it mode. That usually happened when I was shocked enough to withdraw into my own world and let the 'autopilot' take over, the thoughts getting brutally honest.

The girl had a look of utter horror on her face, stopping midway in unbuttoning her shirt. She had a pair of blue P.E. shorts on but the upper half - well, let's say she only needed two more buttons to be completly exposed. I assumed she was trying to change for the lesson, only choosing a bad place and me choosing a bad timing to come in.

What however surprised me the most was the size of her chest. It was only now that I noticed their size. Usually, the black jacket would cover most of her body and I never really cared in the first place but now that I saw them, I realized that she actually had a chest.

And that it was big.

In fact, it was only now that I realized that Karma was a _girl._

A good minute of awkward silence and hurricane of thoughts passed I still stood there, looking at her with a poker face. The redhead came to senses sooner than me and threw something at me, yelling at me to go away and stop looking. She also called me a pervert.

I just stepped back from the doors and closed them, trying to get my head working again. Something in there must have snapped and my brain probably overloaded itself or something because it took me good five minutes to remember that my face was covered in something that Akabane threw at me and that-

it was her skirt-

Yeah, you know what, today was just too much for me I don't even _ughh..._

* * *

Third person's P.O.V.

To explain what has just happened, let's go a little bit back in time.

After continuous failures, a certain redhead got lost in her thoughts and forgot that she had to change for her next lesson P.E. When she was left in the classroom alone, she remembered the fact and was so much in hurry she didn't even bother going to the changing rooms since there was no one to see her.

And so, she quickly took of her skirt, pulled on the shorts and started changing the top. While doing that, her mind raced from one prank to another with only one aim - to make Asano Gakushuu, her rival and maybe something more (which she doesn't know yet, but we and the chairman do) - flustered. She just wished to enjoy that face of embarrassement once again (how sweet).

Suddenly, a sound of doors opening interrupted her thoughts. No, it stopped them. It stopped her planning proccess, her movements and her rational thinking. Because the person she was occupied with stood right there, staring at her with a neutral face and scanning her whole body, her bare chest included.

Now, let's make on thing clear.

Karma never blanked out.

She always had words to retort back, attacks to return and solutions to problems. She knew what to do and never failed to take an action.

But this once.

She was blank.

The girl didn't even know how much time has passed but when she came to, blood rushed to her head and she pitched the nearest thing to her which was her skirt at him, hoping to drown out her feelings with her scream.

Of course it did not work.

The boy silently hid behind the doors but Karma felt no better. In fact, the silence and lack of movement or reaction left her so frustrated and embarrassed she wanted to die. He had seen her. **He. Had. Seen. Her.**

The girl probably didn't realize it, but this was most probably karma for what she had done to the poor Asano that day.

So kids, don't be mean.

And never change in the classroom.

You never now who will come in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it happened that Asano realized Karma was actually a real girl and started seeing her as one.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asano and Karma work on a school project together. But they don't :D

"Miss Akabane, do you want something to eat?" A kind sounding voice asked, accompanied by a smile. And since it was the Chairman who made that smile, it was a sly one. A very sly one indeed, and Karma noticed that.

"No, thank you." she carefully answered, her eyes scanning the man standing in the kitchen.

"What about a drink?" he was persistent, he and his dangerous grin. Little did she know that the Asano meant it well.

"Akabane, _let's go,"_ the strawberry blond standing just behind the girl interrupted his father, beckoning the redhead to follow him. Although she didn't like being lead, especially by _him_ , she complied anyway in order to get away from the awkward atmosphere with the Chairman.

As if being in the Asano residence wasn't awkward enough.

How did this happen?

Let's assume there wasn't an ulterior motive of a certain father who shipped his son and his son's alleged crush.

Gakuho, the homeroom teacher of class 1-A gave out a homework or rather a project that had to be done in pairs. He put names of his students into a box and randomly picked two names which then made a team. And fate wanted it for Akabane Karma and Asano Gakushuu to be together.

Though in reality the fate is being manipulated by Asano Sr.

Anyway, here they were - two rivals in one room, alone, and supposed to work together.

Yeah, this definitely wasn't going to end up catastrophically.

"Ah, such a pain." The girl proclaimed, sweeping her fringe away from her eyes and then messing it even more in frustration. Gakushuu caught himself glaring, thinking how she could look cute even with her hair like-

no, Akabane wasn't cute.

"I'm not happy either," he proclaimed (although we all know better), taking out his laptop (which already had its history deleted because of a certain incident with Gakuho involving menstrual cycle) and sitting down on his single chair by the table.

It was then that he realized that the girl was still standing, her eyes running from his place and away as if she were nervous. Which she was not. Not at all. Not because of the fact that this was her first time in a boy's room, alone with a boy and that the boy was Asano Gakushuu. She dismissed it as hatred towards the guy.

"Oh, sorry," the strawberry blond processed that he occupied the only seat in the room and stood up as well. But where were they supposed to sit and start the work?

Glancing around the quite spacious room, the only solution seemed to be the bed. Because going downstairs for another chair was out of question (Gakuho's current domain), this room had only one and the teen was too much of a minimalist to actually have anything else than a bed, working table and a single closet, he sighed in defeat.

Taking the laptop, he silently walked to the bed and beckoned the girl to follow him. Karma felt a bit warm in the cheeks but didn't mention that or anything about the butterflies in her stomach while sitting goddamn close to him since she also needed to see the screen.

Screw the chairman.

"Are we starting or what?" she asked as the boy was still absent-mindedly staring at the keyboard, giving the impression of having been immersed into his own inner world.

Gakushuu slightly shook his head and cleared his throat, doing his best to hide the embarrassment and he nodded, finally focusing on the task at hand.

* * *

Gakuho's P.O.V.

Perfect.

The food I made was perfect.

It looked perfect, it smelled perfect and it was perfect for making the two teenagers break the ice and get together.

I spent one hour cooking it and didn't even need to try and taste it becauuseee daaaamn, I was soo good at everything and I never made mistakes in cooking or anything else, so yeah, _perfect!_

I brought two dishes to my son's room with a smile (for some reason I got a wary look from the redheaded girl) and then left without a word, pleasantly surprised by the cooperation both of them displayed. Though once in a while, I heard Gakushuu snap and tell Karma to focus or to "stop complaining like a kid" or to "not burn his room down". No idea what he meant but he sounded happy so I let them be.

One hour passed and I was reading a book when I got hungry and decided to try out the meal I had made. It indeed tasted wonderful but... what was this faint smell of alcohol? It was barely noticeable but my sharp senses could never be hoodwinked. Horrified, I searched through all of the ingredients I used to find out that instead of vinegar, as I initially thought, I used vodka.

WHAT WAS VODKA DOING IN THE VINEGAR BOTTLE?!

Anyway, the realization hit me real hard. I used lots of it. Enough to get two teenagers drunk beyond help. And as that thought flashed through my mind, mad laughter was heard from upper stairs and I heard something fall.

To be honest, I was worried that the two of them lost it thanks to the alcohol and tried to kill each other.

Anyway, I slowly and quietly (so that they wouldn't hear me if it was just my imagination going wild) cracked the doors open to see-

the both of them comfortable sprawled out on the bed and the laptop on the ground. It wasn't broken, thankfully. But the two plates I gave them were clean and the kids were read as tomatoes, sitting real close to each other and swaying like swings. They didn't notice me.

"Ahahaha, youuu'r not half thaat baad!" my son suddenly proclaimed as he struggled to keep himself upright.

"Oooh reeeallyyy? You ain't either!" the girl chocked out while holding her stomach.

The boy smiled and looked deeply into her eyes: "Ya know, Karma, franklyy, yar laugh sounds like heaven t'meee~"

Miss Akabane giggled at that and pinched his cheek: "Ya tryin' to flirt with me? No good, no good. Watch and learn:" and with the second hand she took his chin with her arm: "Nee, _Gakushuu~_ was your father a thief? Cuz' someone stole the stars and put them into your eyes."

I suppressed the need to say this was like one of the most clichéd pick up lines ever but 1/ they were drunk and 2/ this was so damn sweet. Also, I needed to get a camera.

My son blushed hard but did not disappoint me. He took the redhead's hand into his and got unbelievably near: "Nah, but he's one hell of a demon and I can be one too once we are in a bed."

I dismissed the demon thing and even the dirty joke as ehm... let's face it, this was enough to trigger a nosebleed.

His crush however wasn't that weak it seems. She gained control again and this time pushed him on the bed, hovering over him with a sly grin: "Oh but we _are_ in a bed," and then added so much of sugar into her voice it would make people get diabetes: "And I can treat you like my homework: Slam you on the table and do you all night long."

Yeah, I needed an ambulance.

"I'm feeling a little bit off today, but you definitely turned me on," he replied and I just think I got anemic from the blood loss.

"You're so hot I could roast my meat on you, honey," the girl continued and soon, this became a war of pick up lines.

"Are you a vampire? Coz you look thirsty when you look at me," my son attacked.

"I'm not a vampire, but your body is 75% water, and I _am_ thirsty."

"Your shirt has to go, but you can stay."

"Aaand? What are you doing tonight beside me?" the redhead purred.

"No idea, but you know, sweetie, my lips won't just kiss themselves," and then when the girl laughed, he added: "That's a nice smile. It'd look better if it was all you were wearing."

At this point, I was on the brink of death but the way this conversation was heading really made me alarmed, fearing that they would really make out. Right now. Because they were already sixteen and they were drunk teenagers with a crush on each other and I was recording this and I DON'T WANT TO SHOW MY KIDS AND GRANDKIDS PORN?!

Fortunately, that made both of them snap and the girl fell on Gakushuu's chest with a mad laughter, accompanied by the strawberry blonde's, and they just held their stomach and hysterically cried.

"You are suuch a filter~" Karma suddenly proclaimed and I thought I misheard the last word wrong because I was pretty sure she meant "flirter" and not "filter". A filter was the last thing the two of them knew of right now.

The boy blinked in confusion: "Filter?"

"Yeaaah! Filter! Ya know that... that guy who always pick up girls and oh wait, that's..." she groaned as if the vocabulary section of her brain was shut down. Which it probably was.

"U know what, you are a filter. Cooouuz you make everything soo pretty like those filters in instagram and shit and you're pretty pretty and so... u get me?" she finally mummled and rolled over from his chest to his side.

"Aye, got it, got it!" he chuckled. "And ya know, you should be myy- uuuugh what was it again?" he stopped for a bit, gazing to the ceiling blankly and probably trying to remember whatever it was that he wanted to say. Then he gasped and looked at the redhead, eyes full of excitement: "Oh, I know - ya could be my... grill friend?" And he laughed again as if he just cracked the best joke. I was pretty sure he wanted to say girlfriend but just stood there amazed at what just a bit of alcohol was capable of.

Miss Akabane looked as puzzled as Gakushuu just a while ago: "Grillfrieend? What's that?"

My son stopped his outburst and looked at her for a really long time: "Uugh, dunnoo, it just came to ma mind. Maybe like the friend you grill with?"

And another wave of laughter resounded the whole room.

Miss Akabane nodded frantically as if it were the biggest and most interesting thing in the world, hitting Gakushuu's back four times: "Hahahaha, sure, imma be your grill friend!" and then: "What re we gonna grill? Wheen? I want barbecueeee!"

The boy did not answer, only laugh. So the girl frowned, hitting his back more: "Wheeen are we grilling? I wanna eat barbecuee! Asaanooooo~ Bar-be-cue!"

And soon, those kids got tired of all this innocent-intended, dirty talk and fell asleep. I was glad because the blood pool in front of the doors just wasn't going to clean itself.

I just hoped they wouldn't remember anything after because this was just way too much for my health.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so lame, oh my god XD  
> Most of the pick up lines were from: pickup-lines.net


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Condoms are involved :D

Third P.O.V.

Asano had absolutely no recollection of what happened that day at his place, where they were supposed to work on a project, but he knew it wasn't anything good.

He and Akabane woke up at half past seven p.m., sprawled atop each other and with everything they were working with on the ground. He didn't know what happened. He had absolutely no idea.

**_And it terrified him._ **

He still remembered looking around, telling himself that Gakuho most likely didn't come in and see them (oh thank god), because the two dirty dishes were still on his table.

He, very carefully, got out of the bed.

For a while, the strawberry blond just stood there, clutching his head and looking for anything at all that could tell him _what the hell has happened._ Did they just fall asleep? Then why couldn't he recall anything? Why did he have this strange feeling?

The boy checked himself but found nothing out of ordinary, his clothes still fine, not hurt at all, and the same went for Akabane.

Maybe she would know.

Maybe she tried to poison him or something...

Asano shook his head - No, why would she also be sleeping here then? If she could, she would have poisoned him, tortured him or anyhow cause him distress while madly laughing and videotaping it. Or she would have made blackmail material and flee from there. Or at least so the boy assumed.

Talking of which, the girl started to stir. Her eyes soon opened and she sat up groggily. It took her a while for her to get back to reality but when she did, she frowned, her gaze darting from one place to another at the speed of light.

"What the hell?" her voice was full of confusion and - quite obviously - threat.

The strawberry blonde felt anything but calm. So Akabane didn't have anything to do with this. Then who? Or what? More importantly, he had to somehow save his neck and explain. But how could he do it if he himself was completely out of it?

"Apparently we fell asleep," he said with a neutral face, a very usual mask of his, though inside, he was panicking.

"Fell asleep..." the girl glared and, just as the boy, started checking herself, coming into the conclusion that hopefully, nothing... bad occurred.

"Why don't I remember anything?"

"Good question."

They both stayed quiet, feeling extremely uncomfortable and awkward. The redhaired girl knew way too well that Asano was puzzled as well. Also, he was that perfect role model so she was very much sure he didn't have his fingers in this. She searched for any clues and her gaze settled on the two dishes.

Before they could carry on being even more awkward, someone knocked on the doors. Then, Asano Gakuho showed up, his expression completely innocent (despite the fact we all know what he did).

"Oh, sorry for interrupting but it has been very quiet for the last two hours so I came to check," the man's smile didn't waver. In fact, it was so flawless even his son didn't notice anything.

"Everything is fine," Asano assured him and mentally made a thankful note that in those two hours they indeed only _slept._

"Oh, alright," the chairman nodded and immediately retreated, somewhat expecting that the two teenagers wouldn't remember a thing after getting that drunk. Either way, he still had his video which he could use later.

Gakushuu sighed in defeat, still clutching his head - it hurt a little bit, but that was quite normal. He wasn't used to naps and usually if he slept more than five hours a day, his head would be killing him (blame it on the fact that he didn't have much time for sleep).

And almost the same went for the girl.

He didn't notice though that the redhead had stood up and walked towards him. Instead of saying anything though, she picked up one of the dishes and spent a minute staring at it.

"Alcohol," she finally whispered and realized what might have been the cause.

"Excuse me?" the boy seemed extremely shocked.

"The meal your father made must have contained a small bit of alcohol, which would explain the reason both of us fell asleep so easily," Karma gritted her teeth, kicking herself for not noticing earlier.

Either way, both of them got more or less calmer, although the embarrassing fact that the two of them slept on the same bed was still painfully there.

They decided to never ever talk about it.

* * *

Meanwhile, the board principal was backing up all the material and adding it into the _Karushuu_ folder.

* * *

This incident was soon forgotten and the two students were back to bickering and hating each other just like any other day. Lately though, Asano noted, the girl has been suspiciously calm. Or rather, she hasn't made a single prank in two weeks. What was even stranger, she looked very occupied every time he glanced at the girl.

Gakushuu wondered if there was something going on but then, today, he saw her make a somewhat amused grin, so he supposed that disaster was coming. He only hoped it didn't have anything do to with him.

He couldn't be more wrong.

Suddenly his phone vibrated - probably a notification from social media. He took it out and to his surprise, there was a message from the devil herself.

_From: Akabane Shitty Karma_   
_Subject: Favour_   
_Text: Hey Asano buy me some condoms._

The boy blinked twice and reread the sentence seven times to understand _what the hell he was just asked to do._ Alright, that was one hell of an unexpected request. He couldn't even think of a good and witty comeback, instead just stood there dumbfounded staring at that text message.

"Okay, _what?_ " he mumbled and replied:

_To: Akabane Shitty Karma_   
_Subject: re:Favour_   
_Text: What the hell?!_

And within half a minute, he got an answer.

_Just do it._

Fucking no. And why did she even need them? Come on!

_No way in hell. Buy them yourself._

He already wanted to shove the phone into his bag and ignore any more texts but Akabane was just too freaking fast at replying, not to mention the weird twisting in his guts telling him to find out more. How stupid, that girl's... activities were none of his problems.

_Nah, too embarrassing. Go and buy it, you are a guy. Also, I still have the photos from four days ago. I wonder how your father would react after seeing it._

Oh someone kill that girl. She wasn't serious, was she? He made sure to delete the photos right away - and don't ask what this was about, because he was _not_ letting anyone find out about it... Let's just say that it involved him, skirts and wax (nothing dirty, thank you).

Either way, he hacked her phone. He hacked into her computer, he took her USB and _deleted everything._ So there was absolutely no way!

 _You are bluffing. I made sure to dispose of all evidence._ \- he typed incredibly fast but then waited for half a minute so that it wouldn't appear as though he was panicking so much.

_How naive, you think I only had it on my phone, computer and USB? I have backups of everything I ever take, several of them and on sever places. Now go buy the condoms or the photos isn't the only thing your everyone is going to see._

As the young Asano read the message, he was literally a word away from punching the nearest wall and screaming into the world that Akabane is the biggest dipshit ever. He wasn't sure whether she would really do it, he never was for that matter, but risking it was not an option. It was the redheaded devil we were talking about after all.

He already typed _"fuck you"_ but remembering the context and the reason he was telling her this, he immediately deleted it in embarrassment and wrote _"damn you"_.

This was going to be painful.

* * *

Just to be clear, he didn't want to be recognized.

Might be the reason behind his blue contact lenses, messy hairstyle, very informal, casual clothes (ripped jeans, sport jacket) and a hoodie partly covering his face.

He almost looked like a different person, though the strawberry blonde locks were a bit of a giveaway.

Yes, this was awfully humiliating. He had never, _ever_ in his lifetime felt this way and he _never_ thought he would have to even worry about... this.

For god's sake, why couldn't he just die?

He slowly crept towards the store, his head very low so that no one saw him. He made sure to pick a shop that was quite far away from his home and school, one that held the smallest probability that he would meet anyone familiar there. Yet he carefully kept an eye on anyone who went by.

And while he was looking out for any potential danger, a very alarming red colour attracted his attention. He subtly turned towards it and for a good minute, he stopped breathing. There was the goddamned Akabane girl, standing and leaning on a tree with a nintendo and a lollipop.

First came shock at seeing her so carefree and kind of innocent looking. She wasn't wearing her usual black blazer which gave her the dangerous vibe, instead, there was a dark shirt and a light purple jacket. Her long hair was braided into a simple fishbraid that was left on her left shoulder and Gakushuu couldn't help thinking that she looked so goddamn sweet like that.

He kicked himself.

Then anger struck him. How dare she chill in there so cheerfully while _he_ was suffering?! Oh, he wasn't letting her off the hook now. Not when he had her in front of him, unaware of his presence.

Pacing towards her, he resisted the cold smile but immediately failed, when managed to get near enough to punch her. Though he couldn't do that. Were she a boy though, he would.

"Hello, Akabane Karma," he hissed, punching the tree with his palm. Usually, the girls in his school who read shoujo manga called it _kabe don_ but he had a feeling that was done in a romantic context. The situation he was in _now_ was _murderous, gruesome, threatening -_ simply anything but romantic.

He was sure his gaze showed all those feelings and indeed, with that dangerous look he had right now, he wouldn't be surprised if the girl fell into catatonic shock.

Instead, the redhead sighed in annoyance, lazily looking up and saying: "What do you want, Asano-kun?"

Okay, that took him aback.

He was disguised. Incognito. Absolutely out of character.

"Well?" she raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know it's me?" the boy frowned, for a while forgetting about the fact that everyone else might get the wrong idea.

Karma rolled her eyes: "I can see the contact lenses, your clothes are too neatly ironed for a normal deliquent and your hair is still the same pinky colour as ever, although the messy style looks really hot. Ignore that. Also, you still smell like leva- nevermind that," she cut herself off, not really wanting to blush when they were so close... and gosh, they were _so close._

"Fine, whatever," he admitted defeat, though the staring contests haven't finished yet.

"So what do you want? And hurry up, I'm in the middle of a game. Oh, or have you perhaps already bought what I asked for?" The girl smirked smugly, waiting to see the boy's flustered face. Little did she know that the boy had different plans.

"Not really, but soon, _both of us_ will. Now if you excuse me," he took her hand and started pulling her back towards the street.

The girl, however, wasn't letting herself get dragged and she set herself free from his clutches, now holding his wrist. She quickly searched through her pockets, taking out a certain metal object and attaching it on him.

"What the- HANDCUFFS?!" he yelled when he noticed the cold thing on his skin and immediately realized what she was trying to do - handcuff him to the tree. However, he hasn't been doing martial arts just for nothing and fought to gain control of the second part.

"LET GO!" Akabane seethed, struggling to get the other part of the manacles on a strong branch nearby. Despite having trained so much with Koro-sensei and her class, she knew that the Asano himself was very skilled as well and, frankly, since he was a male, he had an advantage in terms of strength.

That's how she ended up bound to him.

"Are you fucking kidding me," the redhead sent the boy a bloodthirsty stare.

"That's what I should be asking! Why the hell do you have handcuffs?!" Gakushuu exhaled sharply, tired from the battle of control just a while ago.

"I always have my tools with me, in case I get assaulted by creepy people like you!"

"Assaulted?! _You wanted to strap me to a tree!"_

" _You grabbed me!_ _"_

"I SAID WE WERE GOING TO BUY THE CONDOMS TOGETHER, AS YOU WISHED!"

A few people turned around, eyeing the two teenagers in horror.

And those two said teenagers froze in horror.

"They heard us," Karma whispered.

"They heard us," the boy nodded, not even daring to turn around.

"Why don't we just... flee," she muttered, face as red as her hair.

"Good idea,"

And the two of them silently, inconspicuously walked out of there, not even once looking up from the ground.

When they were far enough from the previous place, they stopped and focused on another problem.

"I don't have the keys," the girl confessed, earning herself a disturbed expression from the other one.

"You wanted to handcuff me to the tree _without a key?!"_

"Not really," she said, not sure whether it was a lie or not. Most probably not. Maybe.

Suddenly, Asano's eyes lit up as an idea entered his mind: "Well, whatever, this is actually in my favour. You wanted to buy the condoms? Let's go buy the condoms."

And with that, he went to the store, slightly more enthusiastic than before. He had to do it anyway, but now they were bound to each other and if he had to go through this hell, she would as well.

"No way in hell," the girl started panicking, digging her heels into the ground to stop his attempt to drag her there.

"Oh come on, go with me and I will set us free. I can pick locks," he smugly offered.

"And you think I can't? Unfortunately, this one isn't possible to pick. I modified it,"

"Whatever, let's go," he then pulled the girl towards the shop. Or least he was attempting to.

Karma dug her heels into the ground in order to not be dragged. However, in about ten minutes, they ended up going anyway.

But now that Asano thought about it, this wasn't such a good idea.

Having a girl handcuffed to you while buying condoms most certainly did not look good.

"Satisfied?" The redhead was furious, her face hidden by her bangs.

"I should be the one complaining!" The council president growled, "Just let me die."

Then realized that they have been standing in this particular section for far too long: "Quickly take something and let's go!"

"No, you take them!"

"I don't know which kind you... want. Or like. Ugh, just please kill me. Now. I don't know, hit me in the head or something."

"I'd love to but then I'd be handcuffed to a corpse which isn't very convenient!"

And while they were bickering, a passerby shop assistant saw them, hearing a fraction of their conversation. He assumed they were dating and that they decided to take a big step forward and so, being the kind soul he was, the assistant decided to help them.

"Excuse me, but if you'd like, I'd recommend you these-" he picked up a blue box and gave it to the pair.

Both Akabane and Asano looked extremely mortified to have been noticed and addressed by another person.

Flustered, they both shook their heads: "N-N-NO, WE-"

"It's alright, you don't have to be shy. At this age, it's completely normal." The man assured them.

The teenagers were dying of embarrassment too much to even answer that.

"Oh, there are also flavors. Strawberry is very popular, so is banana flavour. Which one does the lady prefer? There's also melon and limited edition - dark chocolate. Here," he put all of them in Karma's hands and the girl was seconds away from passing out.

"Also, sir, you need to choose the right size. Small, regular or large. There are also extra large ones, but I wouldn't say you need those. (You see, it takes only one glance to see an extra large)," The man showed them all the sorts of brands and sizes and flavours and...

"Do you want me to show you how to put them on? It's very important. Wait, I'll take a banana and show you right aw-"

"NONONONONO!" A loud shriek was heard that neither of the two ever thought they could make. But this was way too much to manage with a cool face.

"Really? I mean, schools don't really teach the kids sexual education so I thought you might need-"

"Thank you very much, but we uhm, we will take these and we will be fine. Goodbye!" The redhaired girl grabbed the first thing saw and ran to the checkout in the speed of light. Her classmate gladly followed her. Not that he had much of a choice with those bonds.

It was safe to say that those two were so red that even the tomato would be jealous.

Karma put the box on the counter, nudging Asano that it was his turn. Poor boy, he was already so out of it that he just obligated, not having enough energy and doubting he would be able to preserve his sanity if he were to enter into another fight with the girl.

The cashier eyed both of them curiously, when he saw their purchase, and then told them the price. The strawberry blonde took out money from his pockets and then caught a glimpse from the man behind the counter.

He nodded towards the girl who was facing the other way, trying to catch her breath: "Lucky you, she's cute,"

That was the last straw.

Gakushuu switched into auto-pilot, smiled, thanked and then together with Karma went out of the shop.

They found the nearest lawn and crashed into it.

They laid there face down for two hours.


	10. Chapter 10

Asano's P.O.V.

"Shitty Asano, it's cold."

Oh wow,  _no shit, Sherlock._

"I know it's cold."

Considering the fact we both were still lying motionless in the grass in this goddamned downpour... I'd be surprised if we didn't get sick after this (just kidding, I'm too strong for that).

"Maybe we could get up," she suggested, raising her head tiredly.

I myself didn't have enough energy to retort how freaking  _smart_  that was of her so I just  _ugh_ ed and we both sat up. After the condom buying thing in the shop, we had a small breakdown so yeah, we needed some time to... whatever, erase the memory? Despite our efforts, we were painfully aware of the fact that the handcuffs were still on.

"Give me a bobby pin or something, I'm gonna open it," I sighed, reaching out my hand.

The redhead rolled her eyes: "I told you, you can't pick it, I  _myself_  modified it. No one, not even you,  _wanna be Ace-kun_ , can open it without a key."

I wanted to retort that we actually tied in the last exams but that girl just would have none of it anyway. That's why I only cocked my head in confidence, hand still reached. The girl however frowned in disgust but said nothing, only sighing and taking out her- oh my god, did she really have a picking tool bag with her?!

Either way, she gave me a few things, a challenging (or mocking? hard to say, what's the difference anyway) glint in her eyes. She was so sure of her work it made me feel more like the only purpose to opening the lock was to prove her wrong, not so that we could be free and at least fifty kilometers away from each other.

Which seems won't happen any time soon.

I did my best. I truly did. To be honest, picking locks was nothing new to me (don't ask why). It never took longer than thirty seconds to get into a locker or anything of that sort, handcuffs shouldn't have been any harder. Yet there was something inside that prevented me from moving the mechanism.

"You done?" Karma was still beaming with her usual mischief and smugness though there was evident annoyance in her voice.

Just as much as me, she wanted to get rid of those as soon as possible.

"What have you done," I glared at her murderously, still unable to comprehend she intended to chain me to a tree  _without a fucking key._

"Stop glaring at me like that," the redhead rolled her eyes, standing up and yanking me in process. "I can try going home and search for the key but I doubt I will find one. Lost it about two months ago."

"You are unbelievable," it came out as a grunt but I made sure it reached her ears. "Preposterous. Harebrained- Inconceivably  _thick_."

"Thank you very much, we'd apparently make a perfect match," she shot back without a hesitation and I was so pissed off I didn't even care what she implied.

"Why did you even need that... thing?! What the hell, you should have bought it yourself, no need to inform me of your sexual life!" This time, I was careful not to be too loud.

The horror on Akabane's face was slightly funny but again, I was angry. The girl seemed to have been flustered, a pink tint on her cheeks: "No, no, no, no, you misunderstand. I didn't- I mean, yes, but not for...  _that_. I- ugh - look, I just wanted you to have some fun and I could use it for a prank, because the rubber is really, really resistant and firm."

I was ready to kill.

"That's it? You wanted me to suffer from this embarrassment?" Really, homicide didn't sound so bad.

The girl grinned a bit and I decided not to address that problem anymore, knowing that if we did, I'd be snapping necks. A girl or not, I'd fucking kill her.

Either way, after probably seven minutes, I found out why she was playing games in this place. It seems that her house was in this part of the town (thankfully the completely opposite direction of mine). Surprisingly, her home was quite big for normal standards but in comparison to mine, well, it was still lacking in many aspects. First of all, the interiors were near to empty, only essential furniture and possessions present. Our living room, on the other hand, was full of trophies, medals, with a somewhat tolerable extravagancy. This place was dark, untouched and most of all - cold.

Literally, I got chills standing there.

"What are you staring at? Come on," Karma tugged her hand and let me upstairs into her room which, not so shockingly, completely defied the appearance of the rest of the house. There were papers all around, scattered, some even ripped, books on the desk, on her bed (which by the way was bigger than mine and yet very simple). I took a proper look and noticed that all of that was studying material, mostly math and science.

"Sorry for the mess, I hope you don't get an attack or something,"

Her sudden remark left me puzzled: "What?"

"Dunno, thought being the cleanfreak you are, this much could make your heart stop or something. Oh wait, you don't have that organ. Oh well," the goddamned delinquent shrugged innocently as if she were just talking about food or something. Her carefree and disdainful attitude really made me goddamned mad.

"I'm not a cleanfreak," I firmly stated.

Karma didn't even bat an eye: "Yeah right, Mr. Cleaning-my-locker-thrice-a-week-and-washing-PE-clothes-every-second-day."

I chose not to comment on how she knew that, defending myself instead: "That's completely normal,"

A snort escaped her lips: "What about your habit of polishing your desk?"

"Absolutely understandable,"

"And disinfecting your textbooks?"

"Humans are full of germs, the average number of bacteria on the human hand is about 300 000, therefore textbooks, which are a subject of everyday use, contain countless possibly dange-"

She didn't even let me finish it, waving her hands abruptly and interrupting me: "Okay, okay, stop you madman, you are hurting my sense of chaos,"

I rolled my eyes: "I am not responsible for your inability to maintain order,"

"That's not the problem. Your OCD and mysophobia is," the redhead grinned mischievously, daring me to deny it. I was about to because I seriously didn't suffer from any case of OCD or mysophobia, I only liked having everything perfect. However, none of that was said since she reminded me of the fact that we were here to find a key, not to get into a full-blown war.

"Well then, let's do this," Akabane exhaled agonizingly, bending down to pick up all the papers from the floor. I did the same and found myself feeling much better cleaning up this dumping ground she called her bedroom.

While doing so, I only rarely looked at what I was picking up. They were either math notes, some books and literature and here and there pencil sketches. Which were by the way quite good. That's why I didn't understand why most of them were either ripped in half or defaced.

"You draw?" I asked since the silence was becoming a bit too unbearable. The girl however seemed used to it, her expression blank and focused on her work.

It seemed as though she completely forgot my presence (how though, we were  _handcuffed_ ) because her head shot up in alert and loosened up upon realizing it was still me.

"Yeah, helps me... wind down, I guess," she answered slowly, probably being careful of what all to tell me.

I took one particularly nice and detailed work, a picture of an old wooden building on a place quite isolate yet the way she drew it gave it a soothing nostalgic feeling. The angle was a little bit to the right so there were some hints of a dense forest on a steep hill.

Or maybe a mountain?

"Is that the former E-class' building?"

I think I saw her wince at the word  _former_.

"It's still ours, you know," she snapped sharply, stopping in whatever she was doing. "We bought it off and the class still takes care of it."

Obviously, I touched a sensitive matter, so my tone softened, making sure I showed I had no desire to get into another argument: "Yes, I know. I just meant that it's no longer used."

Akabane was aware of that of course and she cooled down quickly, doing something extremely disturbing. Apologizing.

"Sorry, I just..." she tried to find the words, glancing to her left, while I sat on the floor aghast at her sudden politeness.

"Well anyway, yes, that's the E-class' building. I was... bored lately, so I went there and," she gestured with her hands weirdly. "it just happened."

I looked at the drawing again, noticing the gentleness of each move. One couldn't have captured something so deeply simply out of boredom. This showed nostalgy. Sadness. Yearning. It was subtle but undeniably there, her connection to the place and the love she harbored towards the old times. Taking into consideration the fact that it has already been almost one year since the graduation, that love must have been very strong.

For the first time, I didn't even feel up to making fun for her sentimentality.

"It's really beautiful," was the only thing I could say before returning it to her and watching her nod in appreciation, tucking the paper into a very, very, very thick book lying under her desk.

No kidding though, the book must have had more than 1000 pages.

"What's that?" I crawled closer towards it, hoping to get a proper look. Turns out there were two more, almost the same thickness, only of different colour of cover - yellow and brown.

Karma looked like she wanted to hide it but since I have already seen it, she just gave up: "It's a gift from Kor- our teacher."

That made me curious: "That Koro-sensei guy?"

"That Koro-sensei guy."

"You realize you never told me about him? Even though after I covered for your class at the bus you promised you would."

"I didn't promise that. I never promise."

"Okay, but you said you don't mind."

My classmate _(ugh)_  rolled her eyes: "Didn't you want to find the key?"

"What's the chances of us finding it? And don't change the subject."

"0,08% but let's be optimistic,"

"I will be optimistic and say 0%. Better think of a backup plan. Meanwhile, do tell me more about that year with the alien teacher of yours."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I will have no other option than to leave it be."

That answer was surely not what she expected, seeing that her fierce stare dropped, getting replaced by... I don't know. Reading feelings has never been a problem to me since that is essential in manipulating people, but once it came to Akabane, it became all complicated. That girl was like a storm, too unpredictable, each of her expressions a whirl of more than one single emotion. Frankly, it posed as a challenge but also a mystery, one that I found too mesmerizing to let go.

Forget what I just said.

Akabane bit her lip, sighing in defeat. She gazed at the three books, protectively running a hand through the blue one she was holding. Then her head returned to my level: "Fine, but I will be brief."

Accepting so, I waited for her to start.

"You already know the basic things, right? He threatened to destroy the world by march and the only way to prevent that from happening was to kill him. He insisted on teaching the E-class of Kununigaoka where all the students would be free to assassinate him yet none of them would be harmed."

"Yeah, that's the official version," I nodded.

"Indeed, that's the official version."

"But I want to hear how it really was," at that, I earned myself a glare that clearly said  _shut up and listen._ The girl, however, didn't retort anything back and continued:

"The truth was, however, a little bit different. Koro-sensei used to be an assassin, they experimented on him and that's how he got the form he had. He was dying and he decided to spend the rest of his life with the class that the woman who had sacrificed herself for him and whom he loved, taught. He wanted to make them - us - accept ourselves, to find who we are and to survive in this world. That's what was happening. He taught us. Not only school stuff, but also... everything."

I devoured each of her words, realizing that the reason she spoke so silently and slowly was not her being careful (or maybe yeah, but not so much), but afraid. It seemed as though she felt guilty, regretful as well. While I understood her diffidence to speak about something so personal, my desire to know was greater. Despite that, I made it clear that I had no ill intention.

"Okay, and how did he do it? I mean, your whole class drastically improved in an ungodly speed."

Akabane sighed once again, though a grin appeared on her lips: "Always thinking of studying, aren't you, Second-place-kun?"

I only shrugged.

"Alright, alright. Look, he could move at mach 20, what would you expect? Before exams, he would move so quickly it would appear as though there were clones and he'd focus on each of us individually. There was one time he had a naruto headband especially for Terasaka, that guy is just too stupid," she chuckled fondly upon remembering that. "Yeah, and he wrote tests, all of them somewhat different to bring out our best. That guy was so dedicated you wouldn't believe it."

"He was also so serious about his teacher image, despite the fact he was a real pervy. Seriously, how could he expect us to take him seriously with all that crying and his boobs obsession?"

Koro-sensei was starting to sound like a case for a mental hospital, but whatever, Karma was smiling.

She talked about that octopus for five more minutes, her facial expressions too sweet for her normal delinquency and the tone of her voice too innocent and calm to believe she was so uptight just a while ago. I could see that this teacher had a great influence on her life, not only from the scores on tests but also her behavior. She was so much more... well, surely not mature because she still loved to prank people (me), but there was ambition in her eyes and the resolution to reach it.

"What was he to you?" I asked without even thinking it through and the redhead stopped for a while, her eyes wide.

There was a melancholic yet grateful glint in her face and she smiled gently, looking at the books: "A teacher. Target. Friend. And a parent that I have never had."

Looks like I wasn't the only one growing up with a good for nothing family.

"Were your parents also like... you know, cruel and all that?" was that sympathy talking or me?

Akabane shook her head, an indifferent mask on her face: "No. Just never there."

The air was heavy for the next few minutes when none of us knew what to say. Then my classmate stood up, making me follow her in process.

"I never knew if Koro-sensei was a mother or a dad. Honestly, he was a bit of both. Fretting too much and all you know," she tried to lighten the mood up, dusting herself and looking around the room. "Well anyway, what do we do? Apparently, I have no key. And neither of us can pick this lock."

"Yeah, isn't that great?" I sarcastically remarked, rolling my eyes. "Just whose idea was it to handcuff us together? Oh wait-  _yours!_ "

"Shut up, you are the one who did it."

"You pulled them out and wanted to-"

"Can we please stop talking about that?! It's not gonna change the fact that we are still bound together! Now use that brain of yours and think of a solution because I'm starting to feel the nature call!" She threw her arms (arm) into the air.

"Oh shit, me too."

Frankly, I have needed to go to the toilet for at least ten minutes now.

We both face-palmed at this horrible situation.

Then, an idea struck me. Well, not that it was the brightest idea and I was most certainly going to regret doing it, but I was desperate.

"There is someone who can pick locks. All of them. He can literally do anything," my description of that person must have been too obvious because Akabane frowned.

"You can't be serious," she snapped.

"He's our only hope," I had a point. She knew I had a point so she hesitated for a while and then resigned.

"Fine, let's ask your father," she finally accepted, the irritation obvious. I guess she still didn't get over that tyrannic era of his.

Neither have I, anyway: "It's not like I'm eager to do this, but we have no other choice."

And with that, we walked to my place.

* * *

The walk was not peaceful. Of course. I am usually a very calm and composed person, never letting any of my negative emotions show. But this girl- this girl was just too freaking understandable. She just loved to mock me and tease me, and she loved it even more when I snapped. Alright, I wasn't the most patient person but still, she was just too much.

Other than that, both of us needed to pee by now and the handcuffs were  _still fucking on._

Thank god, we finally arrived at my mansion. Not loosing a second, we headed straight in and to the living room where my father currently sat with a book.

"Asa- Gakushuu-kun," the man widened his eyes as he saw that I had a company. "And miss Akabane?"

"Hello, used-to-be-principal, sorry to bother but-"

Before she could even finish, I raised our hands, an incredibly irritated look on my face.

"Get rid of this," the tone of my voice was dangerously low and the chairman also heard that. He tried to stifle a laugh, only eyeing us questioningly. He walked to his room and then came back with a bag, various picking tools inside. Did seriously everyone own one such thing?

Anyway, the silence helped me calm down. My father was working on the lock, now and then making an approving sound. After a while, the lock clicked and we were FINALLY free.

"Now if you excuse me," Karma stood up in a second, "I'm going to use your bathroom."

We showed her which way it was and she ran, leaving us here alone.

The man eyed me amusingly and at last spoke up: "So, what were you doing with miss Akabane? I imagine it was-"

"Father, please do not imagine. You imagination strays a lot from what has actually occurred. It was an accident. That's all."

For a long while of staring, he shrugged and let it be. Thank god the chairman has never been the talkative one.

After Akabane, I ran off to take care of my own need and then returned back to find her chatting with my father. They seemed shockingly okay, though I had no hopes it would last longer than another five minutes.

"Well, it's getting late. I better make dinner," my father suddenly announced, standing up from his spot.

The redhaired girl did the same: "Yeah, I should be going back. Thank you for the help, sir," she smiled.

At that, the image of her empty house reappeared before my eyes. I don't know why I did it or how it could even get out of my lips, but it somehow did.

"Wait," I called out and she turned back.

This was painful, but hell, I have suffered enough today. Just a little bit more shouldn't be such a problem: "Y-you can stay for dinner," I glanced at my father, "if it isn't a problem."

"Of course not," the chairman made a  _I knew it_  face which made me want to scrub it off with a sandpaper.

The delinquent girl was taken aback for a while, blinking twice to process what I have just said.

"No, it's alright, I can-"

"You would be alone there, no? And I bet you are gonna buy some convenience food or something since you can't cook, not good for health," I made a teasing grin to provoke her.

She took the bait: "Please, I am quite confident in my cooking skills,"

"Oh really? Show me, because I frankly don't believe you a word."

"You want a contest? You have it,"

And with that, we spent the evening cooking with Akabane. Involved banning my father from the kitchen and a lot of shouting.

But it wasn't so bad, actually.

How stupid...

**Author's Note:**

> I'd be very happy if you told me about your opinion. I said that the first chapter would be weird but hey, I wrote it such a long time ago XD
> 
> *Some parts were inspired by my own experience* *crying* *why was I born a girl* *but I get spoiled a lot so it's ok* *I guess* *I want a boyfriend who would take care of me like Asano as well* *I'm crying*


End file.
